Holding(s) in Company

RNS Number:5574S
BHP Billiton PLC
27 November 2003

Issued by:      BHP Billiton Plc


To: Company Announcements Office                 cc: New York Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange                            Swiss Stock Exchange
Old Broad Street                                     NZX
London EC2N 1HP                                      Johannesburg Stock Exchange
United Kingdom                                       Euronext
                                                     Deutsche Bank
Company Announcements Office
The Australian Stock Exchange
4th Floor, 20 Bridge Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia



Date:      27 November 2003

Contact:      Ines Watson + 44 (0)20 7802 4176





                   Notification of Major Interests in Shares





The following notification was received yesterday by BHP Billiton Plc in a
letter from Putnam Investment Management, LLC and The Putnam Advisory Company,
LLC dated 21 November 2003 relating to major interests in shares of BHP Billiton
Plc:

"Notification of the Holdings under Part VI of the Companies Act 1985, as
amended (the "Companies Act") on the Disclosure of Interest in Shares

Putnam Investment Management, LLC and The Putnam Advisory Company, LLC (together
"Putnam") are hereby notifying you of certain holdings of its clients pursuant
to the above legislation. Each Putnam entity is an investment advisor registered
in the United States pursuant to the Investment Advisors Act of 1940.

Clients of Putnam hold beneficial interests in 71,758,548 BHP Billiton Plc
shares representing 2.908% of the shares outstanding. The shares are held by
Putnam's clients for investment purposes only."


BHP Billiton Limited ABN 49 004 028 077                     BHP Billiton Plc Registration number 3196209
Registered in Australia                                     Registered in England and Wales
Registered Office: Level 27, 180 Lonsdale Street Melbourne  Registered Office: Neathouse Place London SW1V 1BH United
Victoria 3000                                               Kingdom
Telephone [phone] Facsimile [phone]        Telephone [phone] Facsimile [phone]

                The BHP Billiton Group is headquartered in Australia






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